News

 

 

E4tech delivers a roadmap for hydrogen and fuel cells in the UK

Hydrogen could bring significant benefits to the UK’s energy system: heating homes and businesses, powering vehicles, and balancing intermittent renewables. This new roadmap provides an overarching industrial strategy for hydrogen and fuel cells to play a greater role in the UK’s energy mix. The principal benefits outlined in the report are:
Environmental benefits – Adoption of hydrogen and fuel cells will improve air quality today, and following the actions described could reduce UK CO2 emissions by tens of millions of tonnes per year.

Converting the natural gas grid to hydrogen is an option for the long term decarbonisation of heating in homes, businesses and industry. This would require appliances, such as boilers, hobs, ovens and industrial burners that can use 100% hydrogen instead of natural gas. A new report by Kiwa Gastec and E4tech looks at the potential supply chain for these appliances. Published by the UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the study investigates technical challenges and costs associated with developing hydrogen appliances, and discusses how barriers might be overcome.

A major new study on the outlook for advanced liquid biofuels has been published by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The Innovation Outlook:Advanced Liquid Biofuels provides a global technology outlook for advanced biofuels between 2015 and 2045, specifically liquid transport fuels for road, shipping and aviation use. Aimed at policy makers and investors, it discusses the commercial potential, including the technical and non-technical barriers to deployment, and the role of innovation in overcoming these barriers.

E4tech is proud to be leading the business feasibility, market, and risk evaluation for the new EU-funded research project Bio4Products. The project, led by BTG Biomass Technology Group, aims to replace 30% of the fossil resources used in the manufacture of four end products with renewable materials. This will create truly sustainable value chains demonstrating a 75% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. BTG will use fast pyrolysis to produce a flexible bio-oil in a matter of seconds. This pyrolysis oil will then be separated into fractions for the production of roofing material, modified wood, and resins (phenolic and sand moulding).

The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) has published the results of three case studies which show how farmers can diversify their income under secure long-term contracts, and increase the productivity of their land, by planting perennial energy crops such as Miscanthus and Short Rotation Coppice willow. This work was led by ADAS in collaboration with E4tech during 2015-2016, building on E4tech’s previous work on energy crop business models for the ETI under their ‘Enabling UK Biomass’ programme.

News archive